Niner Outs SRAM X01!

posted by Zach Overholt - June 3, 2013 - 5pm EDT

So we knew this was coming, though technically until now it has all been speculation. Niner just confirmed that x01 is coming, and they will have spec on the RIP 9, AIR 9, JET 9, and SIR 9 soon. As you probably can imagine, a less expensive version of one of the most influential mountain bike groups to date is going to be very popular. Niner suggests getting your orders in now for maybe a fall release?

I rented a bike for Tamaracho flow, came equipped With Sram hydro brakes. They squealed so much that I stopped a few times and checked to see if they had installed the pads backwards or the pad spreaders were on the inside or something. At least reading this I can see that is the way they “Work”

Gideon - 06/03/13 - 7:34pm

Blame the brake fluid they use. I think if Sram switches to mineral oil instead of using DOT 4 and 5.1 fluids, the Avids may actually have a chance of being a good set of brakes.

Danny - 06/03/13 - 7:52pm

Might be a little early to call XX1 “one of the most influential mountain bike groups ever.”

chsad - 06/03/13 - 8:00pm

Avid burned me twice with their hydros. Never again. Though I admit their BB7 is a great product. Wait for all the roadies to start yelping about their road hydros….

SJordan - 06/03/13 - 8:11pm

How ever cool it is it canot match the awesomeness of their brakes.

CXisFun - 06/03/13 - 8:22pm

SRAM brakes suck. Bad. As in the worst.

Yep - 06/03/13 - 8:33pm

From what I hear (squealing) SRAM brakes suck.

john - 06/03/13 - 8:33pm

nit-picking: power/modulation of brakes is always up for debate, but if a brake squeals, it’s not a function of who made the brake, it’s making sure that the pads are bedded properly, and the rotors/calipers are aligned…

Ck - 06/03/13 - 9:17pm

Meh, XO is still expensive as hell. Needs to be X9 before the price oriented buyers come out to play with 1×11.

Luiggi - 06/03/13 - 9:27pm

I might get burned for what I’m about to write, but I’ve found the FCS barrel to be the culprit of the sudden failures of the Elixir line. I’ve owned several Avid models (Juicy 3s, 7s, Elixirs 5s and CRs) and a couple of Shimano ones (575 and Deore). I have nothing but good things to say about the Juicys and the Elixir 5s. However, the CRs drove me nuts. Seemed like they couldn’t stay solid for more than a week after each bled… Crossing opinios with my ride mates, everyone who had a set of FCS-equipped Elixirs suffered from the same woes.

Now when it comes to long descents, Avids clearly overpower Shimanos in my humble opinion. I almost fell down a cliff once when I grabbed the Deores with all my strength and found the levers would just hit the grips and the bike kept accelerating… I’d choose DOT brake fuild over mineral oil any day of the week.

greg - 06/03/13 - 9:34pm

@john
even avid admits that their squealing is a harmonics issue with their pad mated to their rotor on certain frames and forks (read: most). and no amount of bedding in and alignment is going to fix the fact that their reservoir bladder material and hose material simply allowed too much atmospheric moisture to get pulled through, increasing fluid volume, then requiring some fluid to be bled out before pads could be reset. their reservoirs imo have too little volume. and what about having so much assembly grease inside the master cylinder that it clogs its own ports? or bleeding out a new brake (because the factory bleed was sh1t) only to find black seal pieces floating in there?
truth is their products tend to fall short. some parts have the beginnings of a good idea, maybe 3/4 of the way there, but fail in other ways. they simply dont want it bad enough. they dont want to be “the best”.

EpicThroatBeard - 06/03/13 - 9:40pm

John is right, as in correct, and the rest of you brake “squealers” are also right, as in correct. Historically the SRAM brake product has had a tough run of it when it comes to noisy. Magura are noisy also. The Trail series seems to have kicked to habit though.

@John. Does harmonic squealing remain an issue on Sram’s brakes without the GPS orbitals? Never a fan of post mount brakes (threaded magnesium?) it seems that the extra quarter inch of orbitals would only exacerbate vibration and flex.

Seraph - 06/03/13 - 10:56pm

Why are you all bitching about SRAM brakes? X01 is a drivetrain system. Run whatever brakes you want. No one is forcing you. I run Formula brakes with my SRAM drivetrain.

sweetbaboo - 06/03/13 - 11:02pm

I like my XO Trails. And I think offering 1×11 at a lower price point is awesome for those interested. It’s really great to have more than one MTB drivetrain to choose from.

Regardless, how did a drivetrain topic get railroaded by people with brake issues? Oh, I know. As is common among forums everywhere and for everything, people do the easy thing and complain rather than having constructive dialogue. Thanks for meeting expectations forum people.

mountguitars - 06/03/13 - 11:09pm

the moment i clicked on the link, i was gonna say sram brakes sucks. funny thing is that turns out a lot of people think the same way. the juicy brakes were great but the elixirs are just horrible.

mtb4me - 06/03/13 - 11:23pm

SRAM brakes don’t suck….in the box.

dale - 06/04/13 - 12:19am

I use magura brakes with sram. But I still hate Sram product launches (Red22).

So, jam another cog in there (and charge a bomb for it) and tell every one running 1×11 is the future is influential… even though people have been running 1x set ups (1×9, 1×10) for ages?

Never knew it was THAT easy.

MaLóL - 06/04/13 - 2:38am

3×9 rocks. 44 ring for speed, and 22 for steep climbs. 32 for 90% of the time.

Long life to shimano.

ScottR - 06/04/13 - 3:05am

XO1 is about the drive train and not the brakes so get over it. XTR brakes are awesone and match my XO silver gripshift bette than anything from avid anyway so now I can get a great setup at a better price. Just mix and match and get the best of both worlds….

Mindless - 06/04/13 - 3:08am

@Robo: Have not been to LBS in years, I would not let those hacks work on my bikes.

Stuff online is the exact same stuff you would see on your bike, just twice cheaper.

Anthony - 06/04/13 - 6:11am

Looking forward to Shimano releasing a similar system. I have too many friends on SRAM XX and XO and they are all constantly having problems and not only with their brakes.

For mortals though the 32 front ring they ship with is silly, send with a 28 and you are covered. 28×10 offers plenty of speed. Front derailleurs are what suck.

In a few years only shimano brake lovers will run 2×10.

don

Matt - 06/04/13 - 7:36am

My Elixir CR’s have worked great for 3 seasons. Boom.

Erik - 06/04/13 - 7:41am

@bikeman, but you still have a Trek… Now your brakes won’t fail but your frame will.

Phil - 06/04/13 - 8:06am

Gee! All those people thinking there is some value in liquid/internet democracy, should have a close look at BR comment box! The first four comments were actually good fun/irony … but then it took off all to quickly. It´s not about the brakes!!?

BTW: I read somewhere else the new X01 cassette will feature X-Dome technology as well, can anyone confirm? I fear, if so, the money saving won´t be as much as everybody is hoping for…

Lawman - 06/04/13 - 8:48am

If you need a 28t as standard you probably need to lose something else and it sure as hell ain’t on the bike! The 32t gives a huge range and I’d run out a 28t in seconds, I’m not exactly a sponsored enduro rider either. Glad to see this is filtering down though, but I hope shimano are going to respond a) because I prefer shimano to SRAM and b) because they’re gonna lose a huge market share if they don’t and this appeals to such a huge market I’m not sure they can afford to look past it. They need something to compete and fast!!

bin judgin - 06/04/13 - 10:07am

bummer for you guys. my 2012 xx brakes are working great, and are light as shit.

new shimanos have their share of problems but the internet LOVES shimano.

ROCKSHOX FO EVA

vhom - 06/04/13 - 10:21am

XX1 is nice and all, but I refuse to pay 400 bucks for a cassette and 80 for the chain. Hopefully the bean counters can make it a 200 dollar cassette and 40-50 dollar chain.I wouldn’t mind a little bit of weight to save a few hundred dollars.

VanMan - 06/04/13 - 11:13am

Have one bike with XT hydros and another with Juicy 5′s. The Shimano’s are nicer in almost every way (lever feel, power, modulation and adjustment) but they don’t work well below -10 C and not at all below -20 C. They also cost more than double what the Juicy’s went for.

The Juicy’s stop my bike, even at 7:00 AM on a busy street in -20 C weather. They have required very little maintenance in 5 years of every day winter commuting except for pad changes and being bled occasionally (once a season). The DOT 4 brake fluid is a pain to use, but it is dirt cheap and you can get it anywhere. As an added bonus it doesn’t freeze.

Why all the hate for Avid brakes? They have kept me from sliding under many a bus and have got me through a couple races too. I wouldn’t hesitate to buy another set based on that alone.

vhom - 06/04/13 - 11:36am

Maybe because the Juicy’s were developed by Formula? The Elixirs are 100 percent SRAM/Avid and almost 100 percent crap. The new Avids may actually be money, but I been fool too many times in the last few years that I wouldn’t touch it with a five foot stick.

satisFACTORYrider - 06/04/13 - 12:42pm

avid brakes and fox ctd go together like tuna fish and cigarettes or campin and head lice.

kyle - 06/04/13 - 12:44pm

this totally made my morning. you guys whine WAY too much haha.

satisFACTORYrider - 06/04/13 - 2:11pm

it’s more of a honk than a whine. would agree that it was entertaining how it escalated.

Mindless - 06/04/13 - 2:57pm

@VanMan: If you like DOT4 that much, try Formula brakes.

Mindless - 06/04/13 - 3:07pm

@don: I ride 1×11-36 with Zee rear and single ring with no guard, front derailler. Works better for a small fraction of XX1 price. If it is not low enough for you, MTFU.

Andrew - 06/04/13 - 4:44pm

The fact that everyone is yearning to complain about Avid brakes is a pretty good indication that they should get the junk off the market and redesigned to at least be able to hold a candle to Shimano. I’ll say this though, as a mechanic sometimes (occasionally) an elixir will actually feel and work nicely… or you could buy an SLX brake for a couple hundred bucks and call it good for the rest of eternity. Back on topic, the XX1 on my Rocky Mountain Vertex is hands down uncompromisingly perfect, like the drivetrain you dream about and pray would come in to existence. If the X01 is similar there is no question it will be wildly popular.

Rich - 06/04/13 - 5:56pm

None of you guys have obviously ridden the new Avid Trail brakes. They are as good as my XTR’s. I still like the sexiness of Shimano though a bit more.

Imagine if any of these hacks had to work on cars? Ha ha ha! They’d be fired.

satisFACTORYrider - 06/05/13 - 10:40am

there’s plenty of hacks who work on cars and complain and get fired.

plume - 06/05/13 - 10:56am

I’m pretty sure I’d have no trouble enjoying my trouble free XT brakes mounted as a lonely brake lever on one side and a twist shift or maybe trigger 1X11 X0 shifter on the other. When 9 speed was current I believed heavily in mixing drive train components. Sram made better rear derailleurs and shifters, Shimano made better brakes and cranks, chains and cassettes – the mix worked well for me. Fast forward to 10 speed and Shimano took over completely – no reason to run a Sram product at all. X0 10 speed was NOT of the same quality as X0 9 speed. One ride on dyna-sys and shadow + revealed that it’s a much superior product. Sram was correct at developing a 1X11 drive train and I agree that it’s potentially the most influential drive train to date. Even though it’s beyond most budget’s it’s a starting point to trickle down tech – do you realize how much this opens up the possibility for future frame design? The FD needs to die for MTB use. Shorter chainstays and tighter linkages? Yes please. Shimano needs to get on board or they will be in the same boat as “road compact will never take off”

Poor guy - 06/21/13 - 7:25am

Waiting for the technology shared down to X4 group priced around $50. My name tell you why.

The Viking - 07/08/13 - 9:46am

I have been mixing SRAM and shimano for years. SRAM cassettes and chains SUCK. The cassette shifts like crap and I am guaranteed to break there chains at least once a year. So I run an XTR 10 speed cassette and chain. I did this for years as I was using gripshift. Now that I back using paddles I am considering going back to a full shimano drivetrain. Only problem is I am so into the 1×11 that it looks like I am going to get a new Niner Jet 9 Carbon with the XO1 kit.

As for AVID brakes, I have a set of XO race. They were totally squeal free until a very wet muddy race. Ever since then they have been horrible. I have had a set of Juicy ultimate’s in the past and they did the same thing. I just deal with it. They make me stop and I bleed them once a year.

Post a comment:

Name (required)

Email (will not be published) (required)

Website

Comment sections can be a beautiful source of knowledge, conversation and comedy. They can also get pretty ugly, which is why we've updated our Comments Policy. If your comment isn't showing up or suddenly disappears, you might want to check it out.